The Happiest Place on Earth!

Welcome to what I believe to be the longest post in history.  It took me three days alone just to upload all of the pictures (and these are NOT even close to ALL of them!).  I will try to keep my commentary to a minimum as not to make this post even longer.

The main focus of our trip to Florida, of course, was our trip to Disney World.  Since we figured we would only be going to the theme parks for one day (maybe two) we decided on Magic Kingdom as our park of choice.  We started out early and got there before the park opened.  We had a detailed itinerary in hand and a little Belle at our sides.

On the Monorail 

waiting for the park to open

Alice and Snow White arriving on the train for the "Welcome Show"

our first shot with the castle (Amelia can hardly contain her excitement)

From the moment we entered the park, Amelia was all smiles and giggles pointing out all of the things she noticed.  Here she has spotted the Dumbo ride.

While GG got in line for Dumbo, Amelia and Jason hit Cinderella's carousel!  

Amelia and GG on Dumbo

After spending the first hour on  rides, we decided to get in line to see the Disney Princesses shortly after they "opened".  Surprisingly, the wait was only 15 minutes when we joined the line (our tour book said it could be up to 90 minutes).  In about 10 minutes we were in the room with Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Belle.

Check out Amelia's face while standing in line waiting for our turn to speak to the ladies.  The security guard was so taken with Amelia's excitement that he unhooked the rope and allowed her to get out of line to go and see Belle.

We didn't even have to tell Amelia what to do.  As soon as she got an unobstructed route to Belle she took off and gave Belle a huge hug!  My mom and I actually got choked up witnessing the whole thing (sad, but true).

Then, Belle escorted Amelia back to line and Amelia was completely dazed by the whole occurrence.

We waited in line for only a minute or two longer before we got to see Sleeping Beauty.  However, by then Amelia had had enough time to over think the whole event.  She was all of a sudden shy and unsure of meeting the rest of the princesses.  It was really a nice set up and I never, ever felt rushed while chatting with the characters.  They were all so friendly and kind to Amelia and two of them commented on her outfit and asked if her "Fairy Godmother" made it for her.  

Luckily, GG had the foresight to order Amelia a personalized autograph book for all of the characters' signatures.  I thought she might be too young for this, but Amelia seemed to enjoy watching them sign with her special princess pen.  She has looked at the book countless times since that day asking which signature is which.

By the time we made it to see Belle again, she was totally unsure of the whole thing!

We pretty much decided to push our character meeting luck and immediately get in line to see Mickey and Minnie after visiting the princesses.  Interestingly enough, the line to see the Mice was the longest line we waited in all day for any attraction--about 25 minutes.

Amelia was pretty unsure of Mickey and Minnie, too, until Minnie decided to give her a kiss.  Once Amelia smiled and giggled, it was over, Minnie kept giving more and more kisses and Amelia quickly became her biggest fan!

It just so happened that after meeting Mickey and Minnie it was time for story time with Belle near Cinderella's castle.  We had read about this feature and thought Amelia would really like it given her long-standing obsession with Belle.  We arrived just in time to get a great seat.  Belle came out and started to tell the story of Beauty and the Beast.  

She called on people in the audience to join her on stage and play different parts in the story.  Guess who she picked to play the Beast!!

As you can imagine, my super shy husband was thrilled to get up in front of everyone and growl, dance with Belle, and fight Gaston, but he was a good sport and did a great job!  The best part about him playing the role as the Beast was that we were the first ones who got to meet Belle.  I think Amelia was still trying to figure out what the heck was going on and why her dad was playing the Beast and why this Belle was dressed so differently than the one she had JUST met.  Interestingly enough, though, both Belles that we met had the exact same signature--these guys are good!

The funniest part of the whole experience came a few hours later when an adoring fan spotted Jason while in line for the Buzz Lightyear ride.  She said, "Oh, look! Its the Beast!  You did a great job, my husband would have never done that!".

Since we were near Tomorrow Land, we went ahead and rode a few rides in that area and saw the Monsters, Inc. show.  With the exception of Amelia, we took turns riding Space Mountain which I think is still my all-time favorite Magic Kingdom ride!

After getting off the Buzz Lightyear ride, we got to meet Buzz himself!! (That's an actual costumed person, not a statue).

While waiting for GG and Grandma to finish up on Space Mountain, we rode the TTA around Tomorrow Land.  

Amelia got sight of the race cars during the TTA ride and so that was her and Jason's next stop.  She could barely see over the steering wheel and had a very hard time driving a straight line.  Jason claims she gave him whip lash on the ride, hopefully that's not a glimpse into our future!

Another castle shot

All the ladies (minus Amelia) hit the Haunted Mansion next.  I had briefly considered taking Amelia on the ride because I remember it being so NOT scary, but I am glad I decided against it.  I think two year olds are about the only age group that would have found that ride at all frightening, so we'll have to give it a try next time.

While heading into Frontier Land, we noticed people lining up on the street and quickly remembered that the only parade of the day was getting ready to start.  We totally lucked out and scored a spot on a bench.  While we rested and waited for the parade to start, Jason went off to find some ice cream.  Amelia and I were supposed to share one, but one bite was about all I got!
Amelia really likes these next few pictures from the parade, but feel free to skip them as they are probably only enjoyable if you were there and could see her face!  She didn't stop waving once, it was pretty cute!

We decided to take Amelia on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride after hearing that her friend Natalie was able to handle it.  I am really surprised that Amelia didn't get scared at all while we were in the "boat".  Afterwards, we decided to take a picture or two in the pirate gift shop.  (Yes I realize that pirates and sombreros are hardly related).

After meeting Aladdin and Jasmine (not sure why I don't have any pictures of this) and riding Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride, we headed back to the carousel for another go around or three.  We rarely had to wait for any ride longer than 10 minutes, but we were able to walk right up to the carousel every time we passed by.

We checked out "Its a Small World" and rode the train around the park.  My mom and I hit Space Mountain one more time while Amelia checked out Minnie Mouse's house. By this time she was pretty exhausted.

A couple more pics on our way out. Despite her very long, napless day she was still in pretty good spirits at this point.  

I honestly could not have imagined a more perfect day at the Happiest Place on Earth! The weather was incredible, the crowds were minimal, and the princesses were lovely.  We accomplished, without difficulty, everything on our "must do" list and much, much more.  For me, the highlights were watching Amelia hug Belle and watching Jason play the role of the Beast.  There is no doubt in my mind that there is something incredibly magical about Disney World.

With that being said, we had originally decided that we would return the following day (despite the $75/person price tag!) if we felt we needed more time.  I felt like we used our day very wisely and didn't feel the need to return, but thought I would ask Amelia for her opinion.  On the way back to the hotel, I asked her if she would like to go back to Disney World the next day.  She replied, "No, I want to stay at our Florida home and watch TV tomorrow".